MIGNANI, LAURA. - Religious, b. at Brescia about 1480, d. there on 10 Jan. 1525. Having entered at a very young age the monastery of the Augustinian nuns of S. Croce, she shone by the holiness of her life and inspired wisdom, which soon caused her to be venerated in many cities.
She was connected with the courts of Ferrara, Urbino, Mantova, and Savoia, and corresponded by letter with Elisabetta Gonzaga, Lucrezia Borgia, and the Gambara counts of Verolanuova. Above all, she was the enlightened counsellor and first inspirer of the young Gaetano Thiene, who called her mother and to whom she had been introduced by B. Stella. The surviving letters of their correspondence reveal the mystical fervour nourished by that holy friendship. Ancient documents give her the title of blessed, though this was never confirmed by the Church; her incorrupt body rests at Brescia in the convent of S. Croce.